The Trojan Horse Scandal – Time For Accountability

Last April, the nation became obsessed by the Trojan Horse saga – the idea that schools were being infiltrated by Islamic hardliners, and not only were non-Muslim children being forcibly ‘Islamised’, but that this was part of a broader program of action by Muslims to undermine our education system.

It has now been shown that one incident apart, those allegations were false, unfounded and it was totally wrong for that smear campaign to have been acted upon by government and officials. No evidence of extremism or radicalisation was found by any of the inquiries in any of the schools involved. The Education Committee has reported back to say there was no evidence of a sustained plot.

Well, I’m not sure that’s entirelytrue.

No sooner had these absurd smears been made, than the Ofsted rule book was thrown out of the window and the Education Secretary had launched a dazzling array of draconian measures which included: parachuting-in inspectors to target Muslim majority schools; staff and governors being forced out of schools; investigations launched; the demotion of Muslim majority schools from ‘outstanding’ to ‘special measures’. It was a stunningly brazen anti-Muslim witch-hunt the likes of which we have not seen before in the UK, nor must we ever see again. The current Tory led coalition acquiesced.

As it turns out, mealy-mouthed politicians had neither the power nor gumption to stop those driving it forward. Absolute. Power. Corrupts.

It has been said that if you want to know what’s happening in a match, you should look at what’s happening on the pitch rather than at the scoreboard. For those of us closer to the scrimmage of the political agenda, we had a pretty good idea what was going on. When the story broke, I was criticised by the usual suspects for being too quick out of the blocks to condemn ‘Operation Trojan Horse’ as a witch-hunt. There was an understandable reluctance from Muslim figures and organisations to speak out early-on and to say what was written across the skies for us all to see – the Trojan Horse Scandal was being driven by anti-Muslim prejudice.

Teaching staff, governors and representatives, even the leader of the council – Muslim and non-Muslim alike – stepped-up to debunk the smears. Parents stood before the media spotlight and said their children were happy. Statistics told a story of inner city schools previously mismanaged and underperforming, with less than 10% of pupils getting A-C grades at GCSE. Those figures had now been reversed with 90% of pupils attaining A-C. It didn’t make a shred of difference. The anti-Muslim hysteria had set-in. The train had left the station. It was a direction of travel driven by a twisted and skewed ideology of a clash of civilisations narrative and fifth columns. Muslims were once again, the enemy within.

The driving force behind the Trojan Horse Scandal was the former Secretary of State for Education, Mr Michael Gove. On the lunchtime news that day, I reported on allegations that the Secretary of State for Education shared an ideology with anti-Muslim groups. Radio 4’s World At One presenter Martha Kearney interviewed me saying “that’s a pretty serious allegation”. Yes, it was. This was the same Mr Gove who apparently allocated money (not departmental money but rather from his ministerial slush fund) to the now discredited Quilliam Foundation. They were going to take, despite his support for a paedophile far right leader, the unrepentant anti-Muslim extremist and convicted criminal Tommy Robinson into schools. To meet kids. To share wisdom.

When I queried this galactically asinine move by Mr Gove, with a senior Tory cabinet minister, I was told privately and quite simply “Mr Gove does not find Tommy’s views extreme”.

You don’t get to be chief whip without knowing a few Frank Underwood-esque moves. Notwithstanding the swerve around the conflict of interest with Mr Gove funding the Quilliam Foundation, an organisation with whom he was according to their own website, he was an ‘advisor’ until the list was removed as their brand became increasingly toxic; it appeared that Mr Gove had significant ties with other anti-Muslim extremists who shared his clash of civilisations narrative. The Eurabia theory. Mr Gove and the Henry Jackson Society’s Douglas Murray are trustees of the European Freedom Fund, along with Roy Brown. The latter contributed a chapter to hate-preacher Robert Spencer’s book The Myth of Islamic Tolerance. Yes, that same Robert Spencer who the Home Secretary banned from entering the UK along with Pamela Geller, and whom Anders Breivik looked up to so very much. Thankfully, the ideological gap didn’t put a wedge between Mr Gove and Ms May… well ok, maybe a little.

Murray, HJS and others in this dark political tryst are now mired in allegations of Islamophobia and supporting white supremacists, and introducing to the heart of government, a new form of extremism which is driving anti-Muslim prejudice and bigotry in society. They see themselves as bulwarks against a rising tide of Islam in the West. This ideology has become an infectious and pernicious sickness in the hearts and minds of people, just as anti-Semitism was in the 30s, pervasive in the public space, green-lighted onsocial media, and is now driving political policy.

In light of what we now know, this has been part of a national scandal – the institutionalised and targeted harassment of Muslims. The British public deserve an enquiry into the ongoing anti-Muslim witch-hunts against Muslim public figures, organisations, charities and to uncover the scale of these intolerant anti-British views which have infected our media, criminal justice and political processes. It is time for accountability.

Like this:

3 comments on “The Trojan Horse Scandal – Time For Accountability”

Islamaphobia is the acceptable face of ‘Racism’, endorsed by a blatant right wing press and social media, we say no more. We’re trying a new approach, trying to get as many people as possible to sign up to a 3 day Facebook boycott, get media attention and get Facebook’s attention. Facebook needs to realise its social responsibilities. A 3 day boycott of Facebook to try to remove the Islamaphobic hate page Britain First https://www.facebook.com/events/318788978318968

All through that whole thing, with the allegations and then the reports of what was occurring, we had reports of a national curriculum being decimated. All sorts of limitations were being enforced. No music, or limited music; no depictions of people in art; gender segration; limitations in science; limitations in sports. It read exactly like the curriculum ISIS imposed in Ragga. We are led to believe that this is simply “conservative orthodox.”
Why should ALL Muslim children be enforced to undergo a “conservative orthodox” education? The same as why should ALL children be subjected (whatever their religion ot none), be subjected to the extremes of a religious education?
All I can assume is that you are ok with all of that. This is even leaving aside the reports of children being told that “Christians and Jews are liars,” etc, etc. Are you ok with that?
What I see is completely divisive against UK society, and the only reason anyone would support it, would be that they want that education and lifestyle to rule over all others.